


Finders Keepers

by RaytheFae



Series: Rosantha [1]
Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: And the Science Team are Uncles Now, Benrey is NOT a roomate this is a different kind of story, Benrey is unfortunately antagonist but this time he is justified and sympathetic, Family, Gordon Adopts a Blob Baby, Not A Game AU, The blob baby is NOT his kid though just wanna make that clear, but in a cool way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25122586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaytheFae/pseuds/RaytheFae
Summary: Gordon discovers an adorable stowaway in his suit when he arrives home from Chuck E Cheese.
Series: Rosantha [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819825
Comments: 18
Kudos: 50





	1. First Meeting

Gordon slammed the door to his apartment shut.  
In one hand he held a check for an obscene amount of hush money that Tommy’s father had handed him, and in the other a gift bag from the bizarre party.  
In his mind, he was still mentally and emotionally reeling from Dr. Coomers farewell to him and his conversation with Tommy’s father was just as disconcerting.

The conversation with Dr. Coomer was hazy. Something about becoming aware of the incomprehensible scale of the Universe on a level he shouldn’t be able to comprehend due to his enhancements, but that he was all right now, he’d evolved into it. That explained the bizarre behavior of his clones at least, but it was still terrifying in concept. But what really got to Gordon was the old man's quiet plea that they get together again, that they not all lose touch, that he’d changed their lives.

He ran a hand down his face and pushed himself forward towards his room as he thought. He’d privately asked Mr. Coolatta about the many murders committed in Black Mesa, that definitely weren’t him, it was theoretical, and double checking on the whole consequences-for-murder thing.

Finding out that almost all his coworkers were non-sapient androids or mindless clones certainly explained a lot. Not about the behavior of the science team and their wanton violence (when he told Bubby and Coomer they seemed just as surprised as he did), but the way his former coworkers had behaved, almost scripted, finally clicked.

He knew he wasn’t the most observant guy sometimes, ironic given his profession, but the fact that he hadn’t even noticed after working at Black Mesa for at least a year was frankly, embarrassing.  
What was more embarrassing though, was the way he smelled. God, he reeked. Gordon set the check and gift bag down on his dresser, and went to peel off the chest piece of his suit.

He looked down to find the latch and saw something staring back up at him. Round, purple, with huge yellow cat-like eyes, and a small mouth. It seemed shiny, like it was made of jello or slime. And it was in his chest piece.

He blinked a few times. It blinked back and smiled.  
Which he had to admit was fucking adorable.

He reached in and picked it up gently. It crawled up onto his hand, fitting in his palm perfectly, jiggling with the movement.

Again, this thing was fucking adorable. Gordon knew it was probably also an alien. Did it come from Xen? Attach itself to his suit? It was damn cuter than anything else that had come from that awful place, but he couldn’t fathom where else it could have come from.

He held up his free high tech prosthetic hand and waved at the little creature.

It wiggled and two small nubs formed on its sides, and it waved one back at Gordon, mimicking him. He couldn’t help but grin, feeling light for the first time in at least a month. What a cutie!

Maybe too cute.

“...You’re not secretly gonna try to eat me or anything, right? Because I’m waaay too tired for that.” Gordon said.

To his surprise the creature seemed to make a facial expression of...confusion, tilting its face like a puppy hearing a high pitched sound.

He laughed a bit, shaking his head. “This has all already been so weird, this may as well happen.” He gently set the slime creature on his bed. “Can you wait a sec? I have to get this fucking suit off and take a shower or I’ll die.”

It stared up at him and he took that as a yes, gathered up his clothes, and went to the bathroom to finally get that damn shower.

A half hour later he returned, relieved, no longer smelling of blood and grime, wearing his favorite sweatpants and tank.

The adorable purple slime creature was crawling around the bed, under the covers and sheets, like it was exploring uncharted lands. Thankfully it didn’t seem to leave a trail, it kept its slime to itself at least.

“Okay, sooooo you’re still here, so I’m not losing it.” Gordon said.

The slime wiggled out from under a cover halfway, it’s nub-arms splayed out, its face positioned to smile up at Gordon.

Gordon walked over and kneeled next to the bed to be eye level to the little thing. He jokingly put out a hand.

“Hey little buddy, the name’s Gordon Freeman.” He said in an overly cheery voice.

The slime affixed it’s now wide pupil eyes at him, and opened its mouth, and sang a few ascending notes in an ethereal voice, and from its mouth came lovely but horrifyingly familiar orbs, ranging from green to blue.

Gordon tensed, staring at the orbs, his smile faded quickly.

A memory of Tommy came unbidden to his mind, translating.

_“Green to Blue...that means it’s nice to meet you!”_

Gordon gulped. Only one other being could use the Sweet Voice. This thing...it wasn’t Benry, that was obvious, but if it could do that...just how dangerous was it?! Should he have this in his home , maybe he should call Mr. Coolatta, have him take care of it—

His thoughts were interrupted when the little slime creature then crawled forward off the edge of the bed, and began to fall off, reaching toward Gordon with an excited, innocent expression.

Gordon snapped out of it and caught the creature, holding it close.

“Hey, uh, be-be careful.”

It let out another bout of what he knew was the Sweet Voice and then, to his horror and delight, rested its “head” against his chest, closing its large eyes, looking content. God, was it...purring? Its little gelatin body was jiggling slightly and it was making a noise that was extremely close to a purring cat.

Fuck. He couldn’t get rid of it now. Couldn’t get rid of “them”, now? They seemed to be capable of communicating, at least, so, this was...a person?  
He looked down at its cute face and sighed.

Just what had he gotten himself into now?


	2. Names and Pizza Nap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A slime baby is named and eats a good food and Gordon takes a nap

###  Names and Pizza Naps 

If you had asked Gordon what he’d be doing a few hours after leaving the Chuck E Cheese party, having finally escaped Black Mesa and Xen, he was sure he would have answered “sleeping for a week straight”. 

But he couldn’t just sleep. Not yet, anyways. Though he was looking forward to it. He had a few things to take care of first, and suddenly, someone to take care of. Sure they were a strange alien life form that hitched a ride in his suit, but they also seemed so young to him. 

He was also a scientist still, after all, even if this wasn’t his field. He had to find out more about what they were. 

So instead of napping he was sitting on his couch, surrounded by 2 boxes of pizza and an unopened liter of soda, a baby name book in his hands and what he presumed to be some kind of alien baby sitting next to him. They’d worked out a blink based communication system for now, but he’d need better if he wanted to find out more about this friendly creature. 

“Jerry?”

One blink, that was a no.

“Jack?” 

No again. He stuck his head back into the book and flipped through the pages. There had to be something in here they liked. 

“Samantha?” 

Gordon looked up from the baby name book and at the little purple blob sitting next to him on the couch. They were nibbling away at a piece of pizza with determination, even though the slice was much too big for their little arm nubs. It wasn’t their first slice, though, the creature had insisted on getting two pizzas and had already devoured one entire pie on its own. He certainly didn’t want any pizza, the smell was making him a little nauseous, but it was the first thing he thought of. 

Then they opened their mouth wide and shoved the entire pizza slice inside,and crawled up onto Gordon’s knee and on to the book, and tapped at two names. 

“Oh uh...Rose and Samantha? I guess you can have two names if you want, sure.” 

They looked at him,mouth drawn thin, rolled its large yellow eyes, and let out sweet voice orbs that he couldn’t understand. They pointed at the two names again, then clapped their two nubby arms together. 

“Ros….antha?” 

The blob clapped their nubs together excitedly and let out a cacophony of rainbow notes, smiling wide. 

“Rosantha. I...it’s pretty, yeah, I like it. So you identify as a girl then?” He felt a bit strange asking this, but if anyone knew how important it was to get your identity made clear, it was him. 

Rosantha stared at him, then shrugged her arms up and blinked twice. Yes, it seemed. 

“Great! This’ll make communication a hell of a lot easier.” 

Rosantha opened her mouth and a huge line of teal balls hit him in the face, and she stared at him expectantly, then at the pizza box on the coffee table. 

Gordon waved the orbs away with a sigh and leaned over, picking up another slice of pizza and handing it to her. 

“Sorry I don’t have anything healthier.” He said, watching her eat. “I have to clean out the entire fridge today, and then tomorrow I go shopping.”

He leaned back on the couch as he talked , watching Rosantha eat. She seemed determined to try to actually chew the pizza this time and not just devour it whole, but just ended up falling over on her side. As she fell over her body made a sound that sounded similar to a squeaky toy.

“You are fucking adorable, you know that?” He said with a laugh. He reached out and gently patted her head. She wiggled happily in response. “Hold on a sec, I can make this a bit easier on you.” He took her pizza slice and set it on a plate, then grabbed a plastic knife and fork and cut it into smaller pieces “There we are. Damn, I haven’t done this since I had…” 

His smile faded at the bittersweet memory. Not since he had Joshua. 

He bit his lip. He supposed losing complete custody of his baby boy five years ago in that nasty divorce turned out to work in his favor. What if he’d been here when The Cascade happened, and Gordon was gone for a month? What if he had died? He got really close several times, after all. 

God, he didn’t even know where his boy was or how he was doing. And it was unlikely his other father would ever be willing to listen to him. 

He put a hand up behind his glasses, pushing them up and rubbing his eyes. He sat there for a minute, eyes shut, the only noise the quiet hum of electronics in the house and Rosantha’s gnawing at her pizza with her gummy mouth. 

No, not today. He’d done quiet enough thinking for one day, he needed to clean the kitchen of all the perishables that’d gone rotten, maybe he’d put on some music.  
He stood and walked towards the kitchen. 

Sweet Voice sounded behind him. He turned to see Rosantha sitting on top of the pizza box, singing orbs of Blue to Grey* towards him, mouth down turned in worry. 

He studied the orbs a moment, and was able to discern what she meant by context clues and smiled at her warmly. 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine, just really really tired. You eat up that pizza while I get rid of the god awful stink in this kitchen, then we should nap. It’s been a really, really long day.” 

Gordon finished up quickly in the kitchen. The entire house faintly smelled of bleach now, but at least his space was clean. He went into the living room to find the little blob girl fast asleep...inside the now empty 2 liter soda bottle, pressed up against the sides. 

Adrenaline shot through him and he dashed over, picking it up and looking the bottle over. How the hell did she get in there? The jostling woke her up and she sleepily turned her face towards Gordon, letting out a friendly green sweet voice orb. 

“Oh my god, how did you get in there.” He said, panic in his voice. “Don’t- Don’t worry, I’ll get you out--uh…” He turned it upside down and shook the bottle. Rosantha giggled, her squeaky pink voice muffled inside the bottle. “Oh god I can’t get a knife I might cut you… do you think you can get out on your own?” He said, holding the bottle up to his face. God, he’d only had this thing for a few hours and it was already in peril! 

Rosantha blinked at him twice. Yes.

Her round jello orb of a body wiggled and jiggled and suddenly she was twice as small as before, and easily squeezed out of the top of the empty soda bottle, and onto his arm like a very fat gelatin parrot. 

“...oh.” Gordon sighed in relief. He’d think about how she did that later, he was just glad she wasn’t actually stuck. 

He looked at the bottle, then at Rosantha. “Did you drink ALL of that?” 

She opened her mouth and a tiny squeak of a belch came out. 

“Guess that answers that.” He laughed. He picked her up gently off of his shoulder and into his hands. He could have sworn she was smaller just a few hours ago, now she fit in both his hands at once.

“Nap time.” he announced, and headed towards his bedroom. By the time he reached his room she was already asleep again. 

He laid her down on the pillow next to his and put a small blanket over her. He watched her sleep for a few moments, her round body expanding and contracting with what he assumed was breathing, before he finally laid down next to her. His body sunk into the mattress and he was lost to sleep before his head even hit the pillow. 

~~

Rosantha dreamt. 

The Lake was all she knew, before Gordon came. The Lake was her womb. It didn’t teach her what she needed to know, no one needed to know anything, but it did teach her many secrets of the Universe, how to bend her form, how to exist beyond existence, how to see beyond the event horizons, and the map of the totality of the cosmos itself. Snippets, too much to really understand, not that she wanted to. She wasn’t a Being of understanding, none of her kind were. She Knew, and Did, and Became, and Was. 

Action. Gathering. Following. Waiting. Destruction. Creation. The most basic instincts of all Things-Like-Her. Not that she knew what she was, or felt the need to know. It simply Was, she simply Was.

She was sure there was more than one of her “kind”. When she was nearly finished Becoming-A-Person she felt His presence. A grown-up Thing-Like-Her. He made many high pitched noises at her, noises that made her feel safe and happy and secure, like she belonged. She never saw his face, though, she couldn’t see yet, then. But if she tried very hard in her dream of a memory, she could stretch her mind, maybe see this grown-up…

A whimpering sound woke her with a start, sending vibrations through her gelatin body.  
She looked at the origin of the noise and saw it was her Gordon, the Grown-Up Thing-That-Wasn’t-Like-Her (She really needed to find a name for whatever he was).  
His face was squeezed together, eyes shut, jaw clenched, and his face was wet. 

She tilted her head, trying to understand what she was seeing. She mimicked the expression and thought hard about how she felt when she might make that face. Oh! Sad, upset, angry.  
She crawled forward across the covers close to his head, looking determined. No, this grown up was very nice, he’d taken her to a New Place just like she’d been dreaming about when she was waiting in the Lake for all that time to Become a Person. A place unlike anything she’d ever seen in her Lake Dreams. She wanted him to feel a good, not feel sads. 

She reached one tiny nub arm out and patted his head twice to try to invoke a good feeling, but sadly it didn’t seem to work. She huffed out a quiet sweet voice orange of frustration. She closed her large eyes and tried to remember a Lake Dream, maybe one of them would help her know how to help her Gordon not be Sad. 

Blue. 

Her eyes opened again and she sang the most pure blue sweet voice she could, watching the glowing orbs splash and fade against Gordon’s head. Slowly, his face stopped twisting in that awful expression of despair, the leaking of his eyes stopped, and he began to breathe slowly. 

She smiled, happy that her Voice could make her Gordon feel nice; that she was nice, and he was nice. Everyone was good together and they could all maybe have a nice picnic later. She wasn’t sure what a picnic was, but the word was from the Lake and it had good feelings attached to it. 

She settled down on his pillow. If he started to feel the bads again, she’d simply wake up as well and hit him with more Blue. Maybe she could get it into his mouth and it would have a more direct effect! Whatever Gordon was, it was certainly easy to make him feel nice if he felt bad.

She liked her Gordon. She knew the moment she saw him sit down next to her Lake that she’d just crawled out of that this Thing-Not-Like-Her was something she needed to follow around all the time. She didn’t question it for a moment, she’d just crawled into the cracks in his suit and hid away. 

She’d heard some strange things outside of the suit, but eventually she got bored of the noises and went to sleep instead, waking up a few moments before he found her in his chest piece in what she assumed was his Nest. It was a very strange Nest. No giant red tinted pool, no huge pointy rocks, she was pretty sure that those were requirements. Maybe she could get him some pointy rocks later, big ones, to decorate his very strange nest. 

She drifted back to sleep, smiling, thinking about how much she liked her Gordon and his weird food and strange Nest. Yes, this was a good place, and she was going to stay for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Blue to Gray means "Are You Okay?"


	3. Communication is key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visit from Tommy, and a certain someone notices someone is missing....

Chapter Three: Communication is key

* * *

Gordon nearly fell out of bed in shock when he finally awoke and groggily pulled out his phone, and saw he had slept for nearly twelve hours. Straight. He barely could sleep for five before the Incident, and even less during. It made sense given everything he’d been put through, but god.   
  
He groaned, mouth parched, body aching, head swimming, and slowly sat up, dragging one hand down his face.    
  
Rosantha.    
  
He looked where he’d left her on the bed and her spot was vacant. He pushed himself up out of bed quickly; looking around.    
  
“Rosantha!” He called. “Where’d you run off to? Or, uh, crawl, I guess?” Shit, he should have set an alarm. He walked down the hallway to see his office light was on, and opened the door slowly.    
  
Rosantha was sitting up on the keyboard, slapping at the keys and making a noise that was comparable to giggling that had a slight echo to it, his too-large headphones sitting on top of her gelatin body.The rest of his office wasn’t quite in shambles, but it was clear she’d gotten into everything she could, investigated it thoroughly, and then tossed it aside. His bookshelf was completely empty and all the books haphazardly on the floor, his video game collection and funko pops were in dissaray. His filing cabinet...well, no, part of the office was in shambles, because the filing cabinet had strange ooze on it and was partially caved in as if by acide, like it’d been halfway digested.    
  
“My files…” He groaned. He had so many tax returns saved in there.    
  
At his voice Rosantha turned and waved at him excitedly, and gestured towards the computer, letting out a string of sweet voice song orbs.    
  
“Hello to you too. We’re going to have to talk about this mess, you know…” he started, but she just waved for him to come look more. He sighed, and walked over and leaned over.    
  
She’d opened Youtube in 50 different tabs with a wildly different youtube video in every single tab, from the looks of the titles, and all of them were playing at once. She went back to slapping the keyboard and was alternating looking at the videos. They were all completely random, many of them AVGN from his recommendations.    
  
“Oh, uh, I guess you like youtube. You know, it's easier if you try watching...one at a time?” He suggested, trepidation creeping into his voice.   
Her strange behavior reminded him of Benry. She was an alien who had similar abilities to him, which made sense if they were from the same planet...dimension...whatever Xen was. Would she be just as stubborn about her chaos, though? Gods, the last thing he needed was another Benry, even if she was adorable and childlike- oh.   
  
He blinked in surprise as Rosantha paused in her keyboard slapping, closed forty-nine of the windows, picking her favorite video, a japanese pop song with strange visuals. She wiggled in place, trying to mimic the dancing on the video, waving her little arm nubs in the air.    
  
Had she just listened to him and taken his advice? Relief flooded him and he smiled. Sure, his office was partially destroyed, but she clearly didn't’ understand anything about...anything, really, but she at least seemed willing to listen and learn. He’d noticed how she’d liked to mimic him…   
  
Gordon watched as she moved around the mouse with both of her nubs, she’d figured out how to use the computer extremely fast and entirely on her own. She clicked on the most brightly colored video in the recommended section and let out more giggles at the dancing and music.    
  
He sat down in the computer chair just behind her, while she remained transfixed on the screen.    
  
He was sure of it now. She wasn’t just child-like, but literally a child. A slimy alien child, but a child. He never saw any large slime creatures in Xen, but he also hadn’t been trying to take in the scenery that much. Hell, if they were sapient and smart like Rosantha, they’d probably hidden away the moment that Benry returned.    
  
Oh.    
  
Shit, did he take her from her family? What if there was a whole herd of slimes waiting for her. Hell, did she even know where she was? He’d been so tired he’d just asked her what she wanted to eat and then fucked off and took a nap.    
  
He ran a hand down his face and looked around his trashed office, and then became aware of how extremely thirsty he was. He kept a mini-fridge in the office, thankfully she hadn’t disturbed it, maybe she was too weak to actually physically open the door (though apparently she was acidic enough to burn through a filing cabinet, that would be important to note.) He rolled his chair over and popped it open, taking out a can of Arizona Sweet Tea. He pulled the tab and it cracked satisfyingly, and he took a few thirsty gulps.    
  
“Hey, uh, kid, you thirsty? I got some juice that's still good here.” He took out the can of pomegranate juice. He was glad he’d gone shopped right before the Incident happened.   
  
Rosantha was already looking at him, her video ended and her interest shifted to what Gordon was doing. He rolled back over and set it down, then went to pop the tab.    
  
Rosantha quickly put her arm nubs over the tab and patted on top.    
  
“I...don’t understand. Do you want a different one?”    
  
She blinked once for no and let out a lot of sweet voice, then looked at him expectantly, then back at the can.    
  
“Uh...I’m sorry I don’t…” He sighed, rubbing his eyes. Rosantha watched him and copied the motion, looking equally frustrated. “This would be a lot easier if you spoke english.”   
  
Rosantha sang loudly a string of blue and green of different shades at him.   
  
“I mean, you can try, right? I heard you making noise earlier.”    
  
Rosantha frowned slightly, large eyes squinted in thought, then shrugged her arm nubs.    
  
“Okay, try saying this, just, mimic the sounds. “See Jane Run. Seeee Jaaaane Ruuuun.” Gordon said, enunciating each word.    
  
Rosantha took in a large breath and started trying to form words, mouth moving:   
  
  
  
“B̵͎͒̑B̶͖̫̲͈͖͍͉̄͋̄̾̈́̊̔̕B̸̛̰̫͕̘̯̿̏̈́̌B̵̨͕̮̫̎̇̀̓͐̍B̷̨̞̝͙̮̠͓̑̐̈̾͘͠B̵̢̛̦͕͖̏͌́̈́͛̚B̶̮͔̱̠̣̈̅̎̂B̷̨̛͖͈̩͆̂̅̐́͜B̸̙̦̳̬̠͈̜͕̀̅͒͌B̴̧̡͙̙̘̺̘̗̋͋̊Ḅ̷̫̹̯͕̝̪̈́̂̿͂͜B̸̮̗̍B̴̯͍̰̥̂̑̇̾͝B̷̻͍͎͈̲͕̹̮͒͜B̸̧͇̥͍̩̗̺̣̎̃̐͒͂͛B̶̯̣͈̾̓̉́̚̕ͅB̸̢͕̣͕̝̄̈̌͊ͅB̸̧͙͓͊̓̿͌͆B̸̰̱̝̻̹̟̌͂́̾̌̈͗B̷̢̯̰̻̘̮̹̑̎͊͌B̷̮̬̯̔̈́̿̕͠͝B̷̢͖̲̓̅̈B̸̛̝̅̃̓͐͛̄B̴̧̹̯̤͖̝̚B̸͇̼̙̼̰͖̩͙̝͌͛̊͊̄̊̑̒̉B̵̡̳̯̪͇͈̼̈́͛̿̿͛̓̔͠͠ͅB̵̨̖͓͈̟̪̺̓̓̐̋͌B̶̹͚͎̈́̌̑̀̎̒͝B̴̡̛̙̤͎͕̠̤͍͎̒̾̓̈́̈̽̾͝B̸̻͎͍͇͉͊̀̇͜B̶̨͕̙̦̹̜͇̯̅̍̋̎̈͠͝͝Ḃ̵̩̼̘̋̚͘̕B̶͇̐̽B̴̢̢͈̞͍̙͉̈́͆̅͂̿͘B̷̢̳͍̬̼̰̑͒̾͆͑̈́̕B̴̰̍̿͋̓̑B̶̦͆̽͊͑̀͛B̷͉͖̹̭̼̪̠̹̾́̿̉̃B̵͙̮͖̹̳͋B̶̮̟̲̯͙͇̎̆̒̽̌̓̏͝B̴͇̤̃̏͑̔B̸̥̭̜̌̋͌͂̊̏͑̆͝B̴͖̝̣̬͔̳͚́B̴̟̟̌̆͆͝B̷͎̔̊͘͝B̸͎̮̩̝̫͗͒̌̅͛͗͝ͅB̴̛̗͇͍̬͐̑̋B̷̟̒̋̔̒̌͝͠͝B̷̧̺͚̤͑͆̍̊͘B̷̨̩͙̞̳̲͙̋̎͗̍̈́̋̚ͅB̷̨̝͔̻̂B̴̦͓̫͉̰͔̣̓̍͒̍̌͜͜B̶͚͍̕B̵͔̻̪͛͊̆̃Ḃ̷̨͉̤̻̻̥̤͓̏̃̑̈́̄B̶͙̯͓̆̍̐̈͆ͅB̴̛͖͕̅̽̂̆̑͐͝B̴̤̥͐̏̅̐̊͘B̵̻̫̱͓̲̺͙̾̈́̅̈͊B̸͚̼͚͇̞̘͙͕͗̅̑̓̒͋̄̿Ḃ̸̠̠͈͔̯̺̥͈̆͑͌͐̓͂͝͝   
  
  
“ JESUS CHRIST!” Gordon scooted away from her instinctively, so fast that he fell out of his chair, holding his hands over his ears. The computer screen cracked and the monitor sparked, dying instantly.    
  
Rosantha put her little nubs over her mouth, looking at Gordon with worry, letting out a sweet song of Blue to Grey. Gordon stared at her, unable to hear the song for a few moments, the ringing in his ears and growing pain on the sides of his head--and the wetness.    
  
He gasped in realization and put his hands back on his ears. She was looking at him with such concern, and then at the computer, oh god, were those tears in her large yellow eyes?    
  
“Hold- hold on, its- its okay! I didn’t like it anyways. It was really old. Barely ran. Uh--I’ll be right back you just, hold on, okay?!”    
  
He ran to the bathroom, shutting the door, and examined the damage. He cringed at blood. He tested his hearing with a few snaps. He seemed fine, but it still hurt like hell, hopefully it wasn’t his brain.    
  
He cleaned up quickly and sighed, looking up at the mirror. If only he was able to understand the Sweet Voice, he wouldn’t have had to deal with whatever that alien bullshit was, and Rosantha wouldn’t be so upset.    
  
He caught a glimpse of something purple under the door and turned from the sink. He couldn’t help but smile. Rosantha was trying to stare under the cracks in the door. She’d shown she was able to make herself smaller before (he guessed that made a kind of sense, maybe she could compact her gelatin body fairly easily? Her alien biology was pretty fascinating) so she was being quite polite to not just barge in.    
  
“I see you there.” He said lightly. “ It's okay, I’m fine.” He opened the bathroom door. Rosantha had big lavender tears in her eyes, and it made Gordon’s chest ache.    
  
“Hey, hey, it's okay, come here, I know, I know, that was really scary, huh?” He bent down and picked her up, holding her close while he consoled her. “I’m fine, and it's not a big deal. I’ve dealt with a lot worse! And I have a laptop, so you can watch more videos on there if you want.”    
  
The spherical little slime girl let out what was close to a sigh and relaxed in Gordon’s grip. He went out into the living room with her, leaving the mess in the office behind for future Gordon to deal with. On his way into the living room he spotted his dvd shelf and grabbed his copy of the first three seasons of Spongebob Squarepants, then he set up his laptop for her on the coffee table, and the two sat together. She settled in his lap and watched the funny sponge with his best friend Patrick with increasing joy. Gordon was glad she was laughing, at least she had good taste. Though who didn’t like early spongebob? Monsters.    
  
Now that she was better, Gordon was back to his train of thought: he needed to be able to communicate with her. Clearly, teaching her english was out of the question, so he needed to learn how to read the Sweet Voice. He got out his phone, thankfully unaffected by Rosantha’s Sonic Blast, and brought up Tommy’s contact information. He was glad Coomer had been so insistent that they get together again and made them all exchange information, now, even if he’d been so tired then that he’d wanted nothing more than to finally leave.    
  
_ Tommy, can we meet up ASAP? I’ve got a situation here. I know it's only been a day, but it's really important.  _   
  
After a couple of episodes; his phone buzzed.    
  
_ Of course Mr freeman!! What’s going on?  _ _   
_ _   
_ Gordon looked at Rosantha, then at the phone. Where the hell did he even start?    
  
_ I think you’ll have to see for yourself.  _   
  
~~   
Tommy had agreed to meet Mr. Freeman at his apartment the next day, Gordon lived in a pretty nice complex, he thought, though thinking about it, it wasn’t that surprising. Gordon was pretty well paid before the Incident since his work involved many potential hazards. All OSHA approved potential hazards, of course!   
  
An elevator ride and almost getting lost in the hallways a little later, Tommy was in font of Mr. Freeman’s door and knocked politely. Immediately the door opened.    
  
“Hi Mr. Freeman-” Tommy’s cheerful greeting stopped short in surprise. Gordon was holding something. Purple, spherical, gelatinous, with large yellow cat-like eyes and a tiny mouth. “Oh, uh, what….” he paused, for a long while, finding his words. “What do you have...there?”   
  
“This is Rosantha. Rosantha, this is Tommy.” Gordon said.    
  
“Oh, uh, hi there! !” Tommy said as Gordon let him inside, shutting the door quickly.   
  
Rosantha smiled and sang a few ascending notes, letting out orbs of Sweet Voice. Green to Blue.    
  
“Oh--oh! It's nice to meet you too!” Tommy said, growing quite excited as they went out to the living room and sat down. Rosantha wiggled from Gordon’s grip, eyes wide and mouth open in a huge grin on her slimy purple face, and settled up onto the coffee table to get closer to Tommy.    
  
She let out more Sweet Voice.    
  
“My name’s Tommy. I-I’m Mr. Freeman’s friend. We worked together at Black Mesa.”    
  
More sweet voice orbs filled the room. Gordon had never seen her so chatty.   
  
“He can’t understand you? That’s too bad, uh, “ Tommy looked up at Gordon, fidgeting a little with his sleeves. “Is-is that why you called me here today Mr. Freeman? You want to learn how to read Sweet Voice?”   
  
“Yes. Uh, I think Rosantha is from...Xen. I’ve never seen an alien like her before though. You didn’t happen to see any large slimes did you? Because I think she’s a...a kid.” Gordon said quickly, relieved to finally be able to talk to someone else about all this.    
  
“N-no, I didn’t see anything like her there. The-the other aliens didn’t...I never saw them use the uh, sweet voice.” Tommy said. “Only….Benrey.”    
  
He got a bit quiet at that. Gordon looked away a little. He had a feeling that Tommy and Benrey had been friends before everything happened. He cleared his throat.    
  
“So...I need to know if she has a family, or something. In Xen. Where she came from, things like that.” Gordon said, changing the subject. “I mean, I don’t know if there is any way we can get back but…”   
  
Rosantha was listening to them talk, but she didn’t quite understand many of the words. New words, confusing to hear. But she liked this new person. He wasn’t quite what Gordon was, but he wasn’t whatever she was. She liked his eyes especially, something about them reminded her of the way a galaxy looked after it was just formed.    
  
Oh, he was talking to her now. She looked at Tommy’s face.    
  
“So-so where did you come from? Do you have, uh, a family?”    
  
_ “What’s a “family”?”  _ Rosantha asked, letting her Voice fill the room more freely than usual.    
  
“Like, uh,...a mom, or a-a dad, brothers, siblings…. Sisters...uh people that look like you or uh, people that take care of you.” Tommy explained.    
  
Rosantha took a few moments to think before answering. “  _ I came from a big Lake that had everything inside of it. There was one person, but they weren’t there when I came out of the Lake, and I don’t know them, I might have imagined them, I don’t know.”  _ She let the orbs dissipate before continuing. “  _ Uh, so, I don't think I have this “family” thing.”  _   
  
Tommy translated for Gordon and sighed in relief. At least he hadn’t kidnapped her from her family. Gordon looked at Rosantha and asked.    
“The...place you were before. Xen. That's where the Lake was, right? Do you want to go back there?”   
  


Rosantha let out one long low note of blue.    
  
“A blue that’s really low, that means Heck No!” Tommy translated happily.    
  
Rosantha continued, pausing to let Tommy translate, getting the hang of the process quickly.. “ _ I like it a lot here, I like this new place, I like Gordon and Tommy, I like pizza and Videos, I would be sad to leave, I would be scared to leave. Do you want me to leave?”  _ _   
_ _   
_ “No! No no, no.” Gordon said quickly. “No, I don’t, you--you can stay, I’ll take care of you, if uh, that’s okay? I think you...you’re a kid, and I’m pretty sure you need someone to help you so...if you want, I can...do that.” He wasn’t sure why he felt somewhat bashful about it now.   
  
Rosantha smiled and reached up for Gordon. He took her into his arms and she let out a long string of happy sounding notes and colors.    
  
“Oh, that’s so sweet…” Tommy said wistfully. “She-she says she wants to Be Family with you, Mr. Freeman! C-congratulations!”    
  
Gordon couldn’t help but smile even more as the little purple girl clapped her arm nubs together in excitement. He thanked Tommy and the three had a nice afternoon together. Tommy sent Gordon a link to a website that still had a geocities tag that had free PDFs of the Sweet voice--Godon wasn’t even going to question that--and Gordon ordered everyone food. Rosantha entertained by showing off how she could become very small and crawl into the insides of other things.    
  
Gordon promised Tommy they’d meet up soon, and with the rest of the science team as well, and soon it was just him and Rosantha again. She was already asleep on the couch. He picked her up gently and carried her to bed, tucking her in carefully next to him.    
  
He guessed he was a slime dad, now.    
~   
  
Meanwhile, in another world….   
  
Benry gasped loudly, eyes popping open. Red liquid pooled around him, but this time it wasn’t his blood--he was in the Lake, floating on top of it now. He pulled himself up, walking onto the surface of the liquid. The colors changed from red to a lovely teal as he did so. The liquid from the Lake ran up his naked form and changed into his usual security uniform.    
  
The being examined his limbs, noticing how weak and heavy they still felt with a sneer. He’d seen them at the party through his skeleton minion, the bastards, celebrating their win they got through cheating and microtransactions. Everyone all together, happily playing games and eating pizza. Lame. Stupid. Bad.    
  
He sat down on the surface of the lake, putting his hands up on his face and groaned. This was so embarrassing. He had one job; to keep the portals open. Why? He had no idea. He didn’t question it. It just Was. The moment the cascade occurred and the creatures from his own home had started pouring in, he Felt it, and he had no choice in it, and he didn’t care. It wasn’t even that hard. Until Gordon ruined it, as usual, that stupid, sexy, man ruined everything.    
  
It was fun, being on earth. He’d been there a long, long time. Before the Science Team kicked his ass it was easy to go back and forth between Xen and Earth, especially when he found Black Mesa--he didn’t even have to waste the energy then, they had teleport labs he could harness the power of so easily. He had friends, too. Jefferem and Josh and Josh the cashier, all of them dead, now. He didn’t know them very well, but they played video games together so he assumed they were friends.    
  
Now he was all alone, and the Science Team got to go have fun without him. It just wasn’t fair. If Gordon wasn’t such a thief and a dick slipper and ruiner of everything good in the universe, then he’d be playing heavenly sword with his friends.    
  
His eye caught the lake surface and his despair lessened a little. Well, there was one thing Gordon couldn’t take away, at least.    
  
He stood up and T-posed, and was suddenly at the bottom of the Lake, and began walking. He knew exactly where the Protrusion was, he’d been singing at it for Eons, waiting so patiently for the one inside to finally be ready. He couldn’t wait! He’d show them all the best video games, the best spots in Xen for catching prey, the best pointy Rocks for nests, help them figure out their cool spooky form. It was gonna be so good.    
  
He wondered what they’d be like, and he hoped they liked him, he’d never had a sibling before, it was a bit nerve wracking.    
  
The muffled thump of his boots slowed as he reached the Protrusion. A swirling congealing of light and liquid that formed a large sac in the liquid that usually was pulsing with a purple energy.    
  
“Hello? Hello?” He said, confused.    
  
The Protrusion was torn. The Sac was slowly drifting back into the liquid. No, no no, had they hatched already? Without him there?? That was so lame. He flew back up to the surface and teleported onto land.    
  
“Hello? HELLO?” He shouted. “HELLO IT'S ME. IT'S ME! I’M ME! You’re supposed to be here, now, please?”    
  
No answer. No sweet voice. He closed his eyes and tried to sense where she was to no avail. He spent the next several hours teleporting all over Xen, interrogating the survivors, looking under every rock and crack he could think of, but there was nothing, there was no one. Where were they?! Where was his sibling?!    
  
“please?”    
  
No response.   
  
No. Nonononononono!! He teleported to his Nest, the very place he’d died, and roared in anger and despair. How?! How could they be gone?! If they were on Xen he would know it, but they weren’t! How could they have even gotten out, they weren’t going to be able to do cool teleports like him yet, they wouldn’t be able to do anything yet, they were helpless.    
  
Wait.   
  
Benrey’s eyes widened, hands leaving his face, shaking in anger, red sweet voice leaving his mouth in discordant tones. There were other people here. In Xen. Earlier, people who had left. But not even Gordon would do something like this….would he?   
  
Benrey raised his clawed hands up, arms shaking with intensity. Three skeletons slowly rose up from the red liquid around him, surrounding him.    
  
He wasn’t strong enough to leave Xen himself, yet, but he could send out his minions at least. It was their job, to protect him and do what he wanted, and he had many many more to use if these were destroyed.    
  
“Find Gordon.” He said flatly. “See if he stole them. Go.”    
  
The Skeletons instantly disappeared, leaving Benrey alone with his thoughts.    
  
He took a long breath and let it out slowly, then looked up at the cieling of his giant, empty nest.    
  
“D-don’t worry. I’m. I’m gonna find you. I’m gonna get-get you to safety.” He said quietly, fists clenched at his sides.    
  
He was going to get his sibling back home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> skeleton time


End file.
